Tag Archives: Lydia

THE BOOK OF ACTS – NO PUSHOVERS

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NO PUSHOVERS

“At daybreak, the court judges sent officers with the instructions, ‘Release these men.’ The jailer gave Paul the message, ‘The judges sent word that you’re free to go on your way. Congratulations! Go in peace!’

“But Paul wouldn’t budge. He told the officers, ‘They beat us up in public, and threw us in jail, Roman citizens in good standing! And now they want us to get out of the way on the sly without anyone knowing? Nothing doing! If they want us out of here, let them come themselves and lead us out in broad daylight.'” Acts 16:35-37 (The Message).

Hey, Paul! I thought you were supposed to be meek and humble, and take abuse without complaining, like Jesus did.

Why did Paul pull rank on these judges? Should they not have simply left quietly as though nothing had happened; turned the other cheek as Jesus taught His disciples?

Is that really what He taught? Does Jesus want His disciples to be jellyfish, pushovers?

What exactly did Jesus mean when He said, ‘Turn the other cheek’? If someone slapped another person on the right cheek, it was meant as an insult. To slap him on the right cheek, he had to use his left hand which was considered unclean because the left hand was used for toilet purposes. To turn the other cheek meant that he had to slap the other person with his right hand, forcing him to acknowledge that they were equals.

When Israel was rescued from slavery in Egypt, they had to unlearn centuries of abuse from their Egyptian masters in a new society where they were free. God built into their constitution and culture a new way of life where He taught them to treat one another with human dignity, recognising that every person was created in the image of God.

God hates oppression of any kind and, in the case of Paul and Silas, the Roman judges differentiated between Romans and Jews. They got the Jewish end of the stick because their oppressors hadn’t taken the trouble to carry out their job properly. Paul wanted the Roman judges to acknowledge their unjust treatment by publicly escorting them from the prison where they had been publicly humiliated by the treatment they had received.

Good for you, Paul! It was a lesson these arrogant Romans would not easily forget. Perhaps they were saving someone else from being treated as they had been treated.

“When the officers reported this, the judges panicked. They had no idea that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. They hurried over and apologised, personally escorting them from the jail, and then asked them if they wouldn’t please leave the city. Walking out of the jail, Paul and Silas went straight to Lydia’s house, saw their friends again, encouraged them in the faith, and only then went on their way.” Acts 16:38-40 (The message).

Apparently, although this kind of behaviour was common practice, it was not Roman policy. The judges were using their position of power to abuse Jews whom they despised. If the authorities got to hear about it, they were in big trouble. Mistreating non-Romans was bad enough but mistreating Roman citizens, Jews or no Jews, was serious.

They not only personally escorted Paul and Silas out of jail, they also wanted them out of the city because they were a source of embarrassment to them. Having got the justice they deserved and taught these men a lesson, Paul and Silas reported back to Lydia who was their hostess and must have wondered what had happened to them, encouraged the fledgling believers and then went on their way as requested.

But it was not the last that Philippi had seen of them. There was a baby church to nurture and Paul had no intention of abandoning them, judges or no judges.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – JOINED TO CHRIST

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JOINED TO CHRIST

“Putting out from the harbour at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.

“On the Sabbath we left the city and went along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart — and she believed.” Acts 16:11-14 (The Message).

These were the moments that made it worthwhile — all the persecution, all the suffering, all the weariness and hardship were irrelevant when it came to the joy of leading a soul to Jesus. Lydia was their first convert on European soil. Unlike Jewish women who were by-and-large nonentities, Lydia was wealthy and influential, a successful business woman and also a thinking person.

She had turned from the irrational worship of Roman gods to the God of the Jews, one of those in the category of “God-fearers”, attached to, but not part of the Jewish religion. She had come to realise that the Jewish faith had something that attracted and satisfied her much more than the pantheon of gods that pandered to human wickedness.

It’s no wonder, then, that she was ripe for the picking when Paul and Silas sat down with the women to bring them the full revelation of God in His Son Jesus. All she needed to complete her faith was the good news of what the God of the Jews had done to rescue mankind from its plight through rebellion and sin. It all made sense to her and, without hesitation, she put her faith in the One of whom Paul and Silas spoke.

“After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said, in a surge of hospitality, ‘If you’re confident that I’m in this with you, and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.’ We hesitated but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Acts 16:15 (The Message).

For the good news of Jesus to be authentic, it must produce something more than intellectual assent. You have to put your money where your mouth is. For Paul it meant burying old prejudices and setting aside old taboos. Both Paul and Silas, proud Jewish men, had to drop their attitude to women, and a Gentile woman at that. Lydia wanted to express her gratitude and generosity by opening her home to them.

These are the realities of the new life that Jesus offers to those who put their faith in Him. It’s not only about recognising that He is who He says He is, the One who has power and authority above all others, but it’s also about entrusting ourselves to Him so that He produces life changes in us so radical that we begin, more and more, to think and act like He does.

These are the fruit of His life and the evidence of our change of allegiance, from self to God, a paradigm shift so powerful that it actually alters the entire core and direction of our lives. No religion can do that. All religion can do is entrench more deeply what is already in us — every kind of self-driven effort, accomplishment and indulgence that cut us off from God’s grace.

Lydia was joined to Christ and, for her, a new life had begun.

Joined To Christ

Bible Study, ,

JOINED TO CHRIST

“Putting out from the harbour at Troas, we made a straight run for Samothrace. The next day we tied up at New City and walked from there to Philippi, the main city in that part of Macedonia and, even more importantly, a Roman colony. We lingered there several days.

“On the Sabbath we left the city and went along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart — and she believed.” Acts 16:11-14 (The Message).

These were the moments that made it worth it all — all the persecution, all the suffering, all the weariness and hardship were irrelevancies when it came to the joy of leading a soul to Jesus. Lydia was their first convert on European soil. Unlike Jewish women who were by-and-large, nonentities, Lydia was wealthy and influential, a successful business woman and also a thinking woman.

She had turned from the irrational worship of Roman gods to the God of the Jews, one of those in the category of “God-fearers”, attached to, but not part of the Jewish religion. She had come to realise that the Jewish faith had something that attracted and satisfied her much more than the pantheon of gods that pandered to human wickedness.

It’s no wonder, then, that she was ripe for the picking when Paul and Silas sat down with the women to bring them the full revelation of God in His Son Jesus. All she needed to complete her faith was the good news of what the God of the Jews had done to rescue mankind from the plight it was in through rebellion and sin. It all made sense to her and, without hesitation, she put her faith in the One of whom Paul and Silas spoke.

“After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said, in a surge of hospitality, ‘If you’re confident that I’m in this with you, and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.’ We hesitated but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Acts 16:15 (The Message).

For the good news of Jesus to be authentic, it must produce something more than intellectual assent. You have to put your money where your mouth is. For Paul it meant burying old prejudices and setting aside old taboos. Both Paul and Silas, proud Jewish men, had to drop their attitude to women, and a Gentile woman at that. Lydia wanted to express her gratitude and generosity by opening her home to them.

These are the realities of the new life that Jesus offers to those who put their faith in Him. It’s not only about recognising that He is who He says He is, the One who has power and authority above all others, but it’s also about entrusting ourselves to Him so that He produces life changes in us so radical that we begin, more and more, to think and act like He does.

These are the fruit of His life and the evidence of our change of allegiance, from self to God, a paradigm shift so powerful that it actually alters the entire core and direction of our lives. No religion can do that. All religion can do is entrench more deeply what is already in us — every kind of self-driven effort, accomplishment and indulgence that cut us off from God’s grace.

Lydia was joined to Christ and, for her, a new life had begun.